OT: Winnipeg ICE sold - Moving to Wenatchee, Washington renamed Wenatchee Wild

[Zippity]

Was the Rink group involved?

 

[DannyGallivan]

This is so wrong. I know these guys personally and that's not what happened.

Tl;dr: Passionate hockey guys came up with a cogent plan to build a facility to ensure long term viability for the whl in Winnipeg, covid hit and f***ed everything up, and the WHL board of directors made it impossible for them to come up with a solution.

They tried really hard to make this work, this was a passion project, not a money making scheme. They didn't expect not need for the hockey team to make them a bunch of money.

As for the crappy call centre comment, they had 2 locations with net 450 employees just over a decade ago and are now in 10 countries with 30k employees and are competing with the biggest in the business. They have disrupted the industry and forced other companies to adopt their model, including more open, beautiful spaces for employees, dei initiatives, higher pay, and employee experience departments that uplift people. The company continually provides a path for people to come in with no skills and develops then into senior and executive roles.

You should avoid commenting on shit you have no idea about.

Were they told by anybody at the R M of McDonald that the proper infrastructure would be built to support a new arena and the accompanying traffic? How about the city or province? What about investors to pay for the building? In short, did they have any business plan that wasn’t written by a 14 year old?

Sorry, but calling this a “flip” deal is the only way the ownership group actually saves face. If their intention all along was to keep the team in Winnipeg then they are truly incompetent. And blaming COVID is just a convenient red herring that really doesn’t make any sense.

 

[jetsmooseice]

LIST: Winnipeg Blue Bombers stadium owners cite 42 defects at IGF - Winnipeg | Globalnews.ca

The full list of 42 deficiencies at Investors Group Field as outlined in a statement of claim against the architect and builder.

globalnews.ca

And this doesn't even get into the outdoor press box that had to be enclosed so that the Bombers could host Grey Cup games in late November when it's like, you know, really f***ing cold.

Mosaic stadium was designed by a company that does stadium design all over the world.

Sports & Entertainment | HKS Architects

Our designs for sports give life to new experiences for fans, communities and teams alike.

www.hksinc.com

IGF was designed by some local hack who had never designed a stadium before. The results speak for themselves.

I have never had a problem with IGF as a fan and if there were problems with the HVAC system or whatever it has never affected my experience, which has been nothing but positive.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

I have never had a problem with IGF as a fan and if there were problems with the HVAC system or whatever it has never affected my experience, which has been nothing but positive.

IGF in the first season, when every single person in the building wanted to walk the concourse was a bit of a packed nightmare.

That also happened during the Winter Classic.

 

[jetsforever]

Sad to hear, hope one day they can get it together to get a proper team

 

[jetsmooseice]

IGF in the first season, when every single person in the building wanted to walk the concourse was a bit of a packed nightmare.

That also happened during the Winter Classic.

Sure but they got a handle on that pretty quickly. If you went to a ballgame at Shaw Park the first few years of its existence it was the same thing, super crowded and congested until they figured out things like putting in stanchions to keep queues from spilling over into the area where people walk, etc. Same thing at IG Field. A wider concourse would have been nice, it still gets pretty crowded when there's a sellout crowd. But show me a venue where the concourses AREN'T packed when the place is full.

Sad to hear, hope one day they can get it together to get a proper team

It's hard to imagine it happening now. That is in terms of getting a proper venue in place (no one is going to throw down the better part of a hundred million dollars on an arena to compete with TNSE and the Jets), and also in terms of getting the WHL's attention. Even if a smaller growing town like Steinbach or Morden-Winkler wanted to attract a WHL team in the future, I don't think the league is interested in Manitoba. Clearly their focus is on BC/Washington... big, growing cities, and short travel distances. They don't want the bus trips out to Steinbach. Brandon is more or less grandfathered but I don't foresee any more WHL teams coming here anytime soon.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

It's hard to imagine it happening now. That is in terms of getting a proper venue in place (no one is going to throw down the better part of a hundred million dollars on an arena to compete with TNSE and the Jets), and also in terms of getting the WHL's attention. Even if a smaller growing town like Steinbach or Morden-Winkler wanted to attract a WHL team in the future, I don't think the league is interested in Manitoba. Clearly their focus is on BC/Washington... big, growing cities, and short travel distances. They don't want the bus trips out to Steinbach. Brandon is more or less grandfathered but I don't foresee any more WHL teams coming here anytime soon.

Having a team here doesn't make sense. Probably never did, which is why the attempts keep failing. WHL bus rides are long enough without adding a city an extra two hours away. That's really the big problem with Winnipeg. We're nowhere close to other major cities that people want to get to. Closest major metropolitan area is 8 hours and a border crossing away. After that, you have Calgary and Edmonton as the only other big cities within a reasonable one day drive. It's why so many tours just don't bother coming here. Honest to God, I don't know why the first inhabitants didn't cut bait and flee with their first major Red River flooding. I would be thinking, shit this really ain't a good place to build. Can you imagine living here without the Floodway? I sure as hell can't.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

I'd put some weight in that if you didn't make the crappy call center comment in but clearly you don't like them so I'm guessing bias.

Fine its bias because I think most call center companies are trash in some way but it doesn't change the fact they really never wanted to build a building themselves

 

[Jet]

Fine its bias because I think most call center companies are trash in some way but it doesn't change the fact they really never wanted to build a building themselves

Well I'm not going to get into a huge debate about the call center industry - it has a terrible reputation and a lot of it is earned and also based on how hard the work is, but Intouch has tried very hard to make it better.

As for the building, I'm not sure if you've noticed but practically every project like this involves heavy investment from government and other agencies for good reason - they usually provide a real net benefit economically and in terms of quality of life improvement for citizens and community prestige.

The plus of government investing in these projects is they are tangible and quantifiable in some aspects, as opposed to handouts and tax breaks which can be easily abused or provide little return.

Demonizing these guys is frustrating for me as I know where their heads were at and their intentions. It was not to get rich or fleece Winnipeggers.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

Demonizing these guys is frustrating for me as I know where their heads were at and their intentions. It was not to get rich or fleece Winnipeggers.

Good to know they're on the road to Hell.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Well I'm not going to get into a huge debate about the call center industry - it has a terrible reputation and a lot of it is earned and also based on how hard the work is, but Intouch has tried very hard to make it better.

As for the building, I'm not sure if you've noticed but practically every project like this involves heavy investment from government and other agencies for good reason - they usually provide a real net benefit economically and in terms of quality of life improvement for citizens and community prestige.

The plus of government investing in these projects is they are tangible and quantifiable in some aspects, as opposed to handouts and tax breaks which can be easily abused or provide little return.

Demonizing these guys is frustrating for me as I know where their heads were at and their intentions. It was not to get rich or fleece Winnipeggers.

I think there would have been enough value to the community to justify public investment in a secondary arena. But alas, the price of getting TNSE to pay for 2/3 of the up-front cost of Canada Life Centre was this deal to not subsidize any competing venues, which when you think about it was not an unreasonable request by TNSE.

Looking back at it, I'm not sure what Fettes and Cockell's plan was to get around this hurdle. Were they planning to build it and pay for it all on their own? (If so, why did they pick a site outside city limits?) Did they expect to work out a deal with some other entity for a subsidy only to have that plan fall through?

I wonder what the future has in store for Brandon now? The centre of the WHL's gravity has shifted from the prairies to the west coast. Brandon is a pretty significant outlier now being 4 hours east of the next easternmost-team, Regina. It's a small market and their building is getting old, it's 50 years old now and probably getting to the point where it doesn't have a very long future ahead of it. I'm sure if the WHL had its druthers they'd ship the Wheaties off to somewhere in BC, Oregon or Washington and never have to deal with bus trips to Manitoba ever again.

 

[Al Camino]

Guys bought a team and tried really hard to get someone to build them a rink for free then be able to own it outright after.

They came at the Urban reserve group with a plan. That plan was you guys get the funding and build a 5000 seat arena complex with 2 side rinks at a cost of about 75 million then hand it over to us because we know how to run a business and you don't and we will pay you a fee after.

I know they run crappy call centers but these guys seem like really slimy car salesmen

I suspect they aren't nearly as well funded as they would have people believe.

 

[Al Camino]

Hey I am involved in the urban reserve side on committee's I know what they were asking or demanding in this case

I am not sure why they couldn't pony up some of the money and made a real commitment but I was disappointed not just with their approach but how they treated everyone involved. It wasn't good and really turned me off from seeing them succeed with the Ice

free facility is a good deal if you can get it.

 

[Guardian17]

I wonder what the future has in store for Brandon now? The centre of the WHL's gravity has shifted from the prairies to the west coast. Brandon is a pretty significant outlier now being 4 hours east of the next easternmost-team, Regina. It's a small market and their building is getting old, it's 50 years old now and probably getting to the point where it doesn't have a very long future ahead of it. I'm sure if the WHL had its druthers they'd ship the Wheaties off to somewhere in BC, Oregon or Washington and never have to deal with bus trips to Manitoba ever again.

Maybe Brandon and Winnipeg could join the USHL.

USHL

The official athletics website for USHL

ushl.com

 

[Al Camino]

OK, so now you're basically just defending their call centers, not how they ran the ICE. I've always suspected the arena never happened because they wanted something for nothing (or little). And covid or not, their original plan to build the arena out in the boonies was horribly flawed. No supporting businesses nearby, on a major 80 kph truck route. What could go wrong with that?

No amenities, and one route in and out. That's probably wasn't going to lead to many repeat customers.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Maybe Brandon and Winnipeg could join the USHL.

USHL

The official athletics website for USHL

ushl.com

I have been having this thought myself. Thunder Bay was part of their league for some time, so there is a precedent. Maybe they would be OK with the Wayne as a venue? They have some arenas that are hardly any bigger than it. I would totally get behind a USHL team.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

Maybe Brandon and Winnipeg could join the USHL.

USHL

The official athletics website for USHL

ushl.com

I have heard some rumblings of ushl to MB.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

I have heard some rumblings of ushl to MB.

They would literally have to have shit for brains to even consider that. It gains them nothing and complicates their lives immeasurably. I think the rumblings you're hearing are your tummy. Eat a Snickers.

 

[Buffdog]

Did I hear that Steinbach was looking at joining the USHL?

 

[jetsmooseice]

Did I hear that Steinbach was looking at joining the USHL?

I admit I'm not plugged into Steinbach but I've never heard that... It would be news to me. They seem happy with the MJHL.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

They would literally have to have shit for brains to even consider that. It gains them nothing and complicates their lives immeasurably. I think the rumblings you're hearing are your tummy. Eat a Snickers.

I didn't say I thought it was a good idea, just that I heard a rumor.

 

[Al Camino]

I admit I'm not plugged into Steinbach but I've never heard that... It would be news to me. They seem happy with the MJHL.

It wouldn't surprise me. They are well funded. The MJHL is moving towards a full face shield league as well as the Hockey Canada rule that 16 and 17 year-olds must playing their home province their is opportunity to attract better players. It's why BCHL left Hockey Canada

 

[jetsmooseice]

It wouldn't surprise me. They are well funded. The MJHL is moving towards a full face shield league as well as the Hockey Canada rule that 16 and 17 year-olds must playing their home province their is opportunity to attract better players. It's why BCHL left Hockey Canada

I could see the USHL moving to a full face shield soon too. It's not much of a leap for them considering that the NCAA has been using them forever. I wouldn't be shocked if shields are mandated across all amateur ranks in North America within the next decade.

 

[cbcwpg]

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/winnipeg-jets/news/wenatchee-wild-gm-its-not-going-to-be-easy-but-well-figure-it-out

On Wednesday, the WHL's Board of Governors concluded its annual general meeting, to which a number of broad topics were addressed. Wenatchee's acceptance into the league was one of the top priorities. The relocation was approved last Friday, while the Wild were formally welcomed as the sixth member of the United States Division of the league's Western Conference at the meeting.

The team will play out of the 4,300-seat Town Toyota Center, to which the Wild have called home since 2008.

Also of note is the fact that Winnipeg ICE GM Matt Cockell and more notably, head coach James Patrick would not be making the move with their players to Washington.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Nearly a week and still not a word out of the local media about this beyond merely reprinting the WHL press release about the team's move. I guess we have to wait for an insider like Dreger to spill some beans, there doesn't seem to be much hope of getting any insight locally.